- Herbert Hoover was president when the Great Depression began. He declared in March 1930, that the U.S. had “passed the worst” and argued that the economy would sort itself out. The worst, however, had just begun and would last until the outbreak of World War II in 1939.
- As news of the stock market crash spread, customers rushed to their banks to withdraw their money, causing disastrous “bank runs.” People who had been very wealthy lost everything they had and some committed suicide. Many companies went out of business and huge numbers of people lost their jobs. At the peak of the depression, 1 out of every 4 people were without a job. Between 1930 and 1935, nearly 750,000 farms were lost through bankruptcy or sheriff sales.
- Some people who became homeless would ride on railroad cars, because they didn’t have money to travel. Some believe that more than 50,000 people were injured or killed while jumping trains. Many of these people traveled together and were called hobos.
- Almost half of the children who were living in the United States at that time did not have enough food, shelter, or medical care. Many suffered diseases. By the 1930s, thousands of schools were operating on reduced hours or were closed down entirely. Some three million children had left school, and at least 200,000 took to riding the rails either with their parents or as orphans.
- African Americans, Native Americans, Mexican Americans and women were bitterly discriminated and the hardest hit during the Great Depression. They were looked at as the groups that could take jobs away from white men. The Great Depression also changed the family in several ways. Many couples delayed getting married, and divorce rates and birth rates dropped. Some men also abandoned their families. A 1940 poll revealed that 1.5 million married women had been abandoned by their husbands.
- The board game Monopoly, which first became available in 1935, became popular because players could become rich during the playing of the game. The “Three Little Pigs“was seen as a symbol of the Great Depression, with the wolf representing the Depression and the three little pigs representing average citizens who eventually succeeded by working together.
- Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) became president in March 1933, and promised a “New Deal for the American people.”
Watch this five minute video about The Great Depression.
Read the following website, Great Depression: American Teenagers in Hard Times, and comment on the blog. Tell us what you found interesting, surprising, or shocking about the information you read on the website.
Something I found shocking was feigns you the amount of teenagers were "on the road" or "in the jungle". Growing up in this day and age, it's typical to have all your typical needs provided for. Teenagers are the adults of the next generation, but these teenagers had just as much or more responsibilities than the adults. Considering they were "ho-bo's", living without homes or jobs. I found it astonishing the way they took matters into their own hands without hesitation.
ReplyDeleteI did not know is that the hobos marked on fences to alarm other hobos about kind people, dogs, and people giving bread.
ReplyDeleteLike MaryGrace said I thought the marks were super cool! It was also interesting to find out when the term "hobo" began. Many people overuse that word because they think it's funny. But this shows that it wasn't so much back then and even now.
ReplyDeleteYes, hobo shouldn't be taken lightly. :( There are many people even in this country homeless. Take Seattle for instance.
DeletePanhandlers are spreading even to Tri-Cities. I have seen a few with signs asking for money or food. But yeah, mostly in big cities like Seattle. There's also a lot in Bellingham.
DeleteIt was crazy that the hobo fell between the train cars and still was able to get back up on the the train.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like it went from a time of greed to a time where others were sharing with others in great need.
I thought it was cool that so many people were willing to help the hobos. It’s a neat thing to see others helping others in need.
ReplyDeletei thought it was amazing how everything just changed, like the atitudes of people. they became so willing to help out someone else who really needed and it was crazy how many people were "hobos". it was sad to me though that sometimes kids left their familys because they felt like a burden to them. if i were their parent id feel heartbroken but it also could have been true back then, if the kid wasnt working then they wernt of much use, which is also stupid
ReplyDeleteSomething I found shocking was that the "so called" hobos had to worry about finding a place to sleep before nightfall. Something I found interesting was that teenagers were accepted for more jobs that their parents weren't accepted for. Another thing I found surprising was that they had to cook meals with whatever scraps they had from the previous week or day. One of the kids on the website said "that he wouldn't even feed his food to a hog."
ReplyDeleteDid you see that it mentioned Cottonwood, ID?
DeleteI liked how the hobos knew how to get by and survive, setting up 'jungles' and organizing people to go find certain supplies, even if the supplies were just scraps. It's interesting how one can be hungry enough to eat molasses with tiny ants and 'blinky' milk!
ReplyDeleteYeah sounds nasty.
DeleteI think it's crazy that a quarter of a million of teenagers were employed in the army!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI thought it was cool how much help they received from kind families. Nowadays, every homeless person is a 'suspicion,' and you don't know what they will spend your money on. We try to buy them a burger when we see panhandlers, or give them a snack or something.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was interesting that the hobos actually had symbols for certain things!!
ReplyDeleteIt's very sad that so many teenagers left home because they thought they were burdens on the family. It makes sense why, but it's really sad to think that so many ran away.
ReplyDelete